Cite as: 523 U. S. 224 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
the word "offense" to refer to the subsection now before us. See IIRIRA, § 334, 110 Stat. 3009-635.
These later enacted laws, however, are beside the point. They do not declare the meaning of earlier law. Cf. Federal Housing Administration v. Darlington, Inc., 358 U. S. 84, 90 (1958). They do not seek to clarify an earlier enacted general term. Cf. Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U. S. 367, 380-381 (1969). They do not depend for their effectiveness upon clarification, or a change in the meaning of an earlier statute. Cf. Seatrain Shipbuilding Corp. v. Shell Oil Co., 444 U. S. 572, 595-596 (1980). They do not reflect any direct focus by Congress upon the meaning of the earlier enacted provisions. Cf. ibid.; Darlington, supra, at 86. Consequently, we do not find in them any forward looking legislative mandate, guidance, or direct suggestion about how courts should interpret the earlier provisions.
Regardless, it is not obvious that the two new subsections to which petitioner points create new crimes (a matter on which we express no view) nor, in adding them, did Congress do more than leave the legal question here at issue where it found it. The fact that Congress used a technical, crime-suggesting word—"offense"—eight years later in a different, and minor, statutory provision proves nothing—not least because it is more than offset by different words in the same later statute that suggest with greater force the exact opposite, namely, the precise interpretation of the relation of subsection (b) to subsection (a) that we adopt. See IIRIRA, § 321(c), 110 Stat. 3009-628 (stating that a new definition of "aggravated felony" applies "under" subsection (b) "only to violations" of subsection (a)).
Finally, petitioner and the dissent argue that the doctrine of "constitutional doubt" requires us to interpret subsection (b)(2) as setting forth a separate crime. As Justice Holmes said long ago: "A statute must be construed, if fairly possible, so as to avoid not only the conclusion that it is unconstitutional but also grave doubts upon that score." United
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